What bothers me first of all is that the moving company wants you to disassemble the piano for them. That means they don't have a clue how to transport a piano and these bozos have no clue as to how to properly take it down and set it up, nor do they even have the necessary dollies, skid, straps, etc. Watch: These idiots will attempt to move the case with the lid resting on the long side without proper relief off the skid - if they even had one. That, or they will tip it on the side and ruin the lid/hinges right off the bat. What do they expect after you 'disassemble' it. Stand there and look at the now pile of pieces laying there? If you've ever watched a competent mover you know that disassembly melds right into loading for transport as a continuous operation. The piano can be transported safely a short distance without locking down the action. The tips you already received could help with a long distance move. In either instance, qualified movers are required. Period. Be professional and do not involve yourself in abetting non-qualified personnel to attempt this move for the customer. You could wind up liable for damages due to your poor handling of the situation. I am assuming this is a residential situation? If so, run, don't walk, away from this situation if the customer won't get professional piano movers involved. Seen this too many times to advocate utilizing the services of non-piano movers. You do not want to compound the grief this customer could be in for by not using good professional help. Chances are this customer hasn't had competent piano service or else they would have called for advice from their own technician. I'm betting this is a long neglected instrument. If they elect to get professional help, then you could perform a service (read, collect a nice fee!) by doing the lock down as previously mentioned, and make sure the pedals are adjusted properly prior to disassembly. A properly adjusted damper pedal will often keep the pitman from jamming when the lyre is reattached. Also, most trap lever arms have a safety "L" bracket to keep the arm from dropping completely when the lyre is taken off the piano. Having the necessary ones in place will also facilitate re-assembly at destination. You can also do an evaluation for insurance purposes for the customer, check for loose screws, missing hinge pins, check that the lyre is functioning properly in the first place and repair if necessary.$$ Of course, recommending a nice humidity control system be obtained prior to tuning by a Registered Technician of PTG that you recommend would be a nice touch, too. Now, if you've just been contacted by a moving company to come to a store, or warehouse or somewhere not a retail/ residential situation, then tell these people to learn their trade properly or sub the work out to real piano movers and don't get involved. Good luck! Joseph Alkana RPT (Retired) _____ From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf Of chip tuthill Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 3:56 PM To: pianotech at ptg.org Subject: [pianotech] Action locking I received a call from a moving firm today. They want a technician to disassemble a small grand prior to loading. They asked me to provide an "action lock"? As far as I know, the action in a grand is held by the "dags" cheek blocks, etc. and needs no further locking prior to shipping. Any idea what they are looking for? Thanks, Chip Tuthill Tuthill Piano Service Mancos, CO Associate Member PTG -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101018/db91cfbc/attachment.htm>
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